Perhaps, simply for that matter at hand and in which we are discussing in this moment it is fortunate that I do not know about Alyx and Elijah, or more so, the words Ava had begun to whisper into the ears of Aaliyah’s eldest boy, the half-blood child already enough of an issue in my mind without complicating the matter as Ava had, unbeknownst to anyone, already done. We had made the choice, Aaliyah and I, to keep the boys ignorant of their sire and all that came with him. Kane and Isola had approved this decision, why? Because what damn good would it do them? Why ruin their lives from the beginning? Why tell them from the start that they were fathered by the harbinger of death himself? Of course, I also didn’t know about Ego and his…desires and indeed perhaps I was fighting a losing battle from the beginning, either way, the choice had been made to protect them as much as….ourselves, to see if, without any knowledge of Tobias or his existence, raised within Diveen, safely, securely, they would grow to deny their blood. I should have known. A demon is a demon is a demon. Elijah was already lost, Alyx surely not far behind- hell, maybe its better I’m ignorant on that one. Ava’s features twisted with displeasure once more, my own hardly displaying a look of happiness as I regarded her, irritated and angered by these questions that had been buried for so long. Maybe she felt she was deceived, but to my mind I never lied- not really, rendering her deception a moot point as far as I was concerned. She had been told a version of the truth, just not the whole truth and besides, wasn’t the lie better? Didn’t she prefer the world I’d created for her rather than the reality? No one knew of her blood save myself and my direct family, no one would ever have to know, wasn’t that enough? We are what we make ourselves in this life and to me, to my eyes, she was always Angel-born.

I felt a growl coil in my own throat at her words, agitated once more by the…well….loophole she had managed to find I suppose, in using the definition of the half-truths, deception and my omission of that. Technically she was right, but Ava, my darling, don’t you know I never admit to fault? I made a career out of always being right and I’ not going to lose to you, not about this, not now, not ever. I snorted before I spoke, voice still calm and assured and yet the very beginnings of a few fine tendrils of annoyance had begun to seep in to fray the edges of my calm as I responded to her annoyingly worded sentence in regards to my allowing her to believe a lie.

"Ego nunquam te aliquid credere quod esset falsa, Ava. Nepos meus es tu, et semper, et in oculis omnium oculis videre. Posui te, nonne? Quod mihi melius facit, facit quod me tuo custodi. Damnant quod non est mendacium, non dimidium veritatem. Angelus autem posui te, ut credere possis natus es natus Sicarius. Nata es sicarius et wolfess feci Angelus per adoptionem, attolleretur rursus ab Angelo. Video nulla fallacia. Non enim mentitus es in hereditatem tuam, quae fortasse non continet sanguinem persuasum sit, non est mendacium, sed Numquam adhuc. Lorem altera crevit, verum tamen est verum. "
(I never allowed you to believe anything that was false, Ava. You are and always will be my grandchild to my eyes and the eyes of all who look upon you. I raised you, did I not? That makes me one better, that makes me your guardian. That is no damn lie, no half-truth. I raised you to believe you were Angel-born, Assassin born and you were. You were born of an Assassin and a wolfess I made an Angel via adoption and raised by an Angel in turn. I see no deception. You were never lied to about your heritage, perhaps your blood does not contain what you believed, that is true, but I still see no lie- I never will. You just grew upon a different truth, but a truth all the same.)

She could argue with me all night if she wanted. She would see deception, I would see a different version of her supposed truth, my mind would not be changed and indeed, if I know her as well as I believe I do, she will keep dancing her own little dance as she puts it and I will be content to continue my performance. Let her argue, I raised ten biological children, two adopted children, two grandchildren and numerous apprentices- I can go all night without admitting I’m wrong, even if, perhaps technically- I am (though I admit nothing). Maybe she doesn’t see it as I do, maybe she feels angry towards those she grew up around, those who never told her for fear of my wrath or indeed…for the love they bore Eris. Eris did not want her children knowing the truth and perhaps, while they feared me, it was more for the sake of Eris they held their tongues. Why? Easy. They loved her, her siblings, my true born children, loved her, they grew up with her, accepted her in every way. To them, she, just as Ava- was one of us. They believed the same truth I did. Family is not just blood, it is who raises you and to them, Eris was family, nothing else, they did not lie- because they believed it. See? I have some logic too. A different kind, yes…but is it truly wrong? I suppose some part of myself does see her argument, her…anger in this. She is still denied the blood she believed she held, still denied any right to…inherit I suppose from myself. If, for some bizarre reason the world was to end, well, every one of my true-born children and grandchildren would have to die before Ava could even glimpse a crown or a pack, perhaps there is some grounding to her consternation in that regard. I love her no less then I loved Eris or Isola or Aaliyah or Ferox and yet….blood is blood and I suppose, in the end, there will always be some sway to that, by the laws of nature my blood will come before my adoptions. It is simply the way. Such a tiring topic this is.

Her words however, brought a wary curiosity to my gaze, agitation still evident in my form as she spoke now of the truth of blood and deception in one, her right to know her true lineage. I spared her from the fate of the embarrassment of that, of being tied to Jaidah and Tobias and all such failures of wolves as they. Great, perhaps, in their own ways and yet when the pages of history are turned, when Jaidah and Tobias and Arsenic are remembered it will not be for what they achieved as leaders….it will be for the pain and carnage they brought and the deaths they met. I spared her from that, shielded her from that and she has the nerve to say she had the right to suffer that humiliation? Suit yourself. I merely snorted by way of comment, my thoughts on it fairly deducible from that action alone, handsome features still inclined towards her as she spoke of her children and their possibilities, indeed- I had thought of this and unless she had taken for her mate or partner a creature related to her (as she may well have done given the vastness of the Apollymi line) I had no intention of telling her. Had she, say, attempted to offer herself to a sibling of Tobias, or an offshoot of such a line, her half-brother (another creature she doesn’t know) Cayen, well, I would have been forced to tell her to prevent incest and an imperfection so horrific such pups would be slain. I had aimed to- well…have some influence over her choice as to prevent it from happening though I hardly believe this is the time to mention my intentions in that regard, though given that she now knows the truth the choice can be more her own without fear of breeding blood to blood. I sighed.

“Etiam Ava. Nolo enim vos filii tui et facultates sanguinis tui scientia et intellego cogitationes res tanta mutatum. Ubi tu, ego eligere assit me certiorem faciam pater in me et omnia mea tua magna catulos et purissimis sanguinibus gandpups optimi tenentes.”
(Yes, Ava. I care for the possibilities of your children and your bloodline and I understand that with such knowledge your thoughts on the matter may have changed. When the time comes I will assist you to make a choice, I will make sure I do everything in my power to assure the sire of your pups and my great grand-pups possess the finest and purest blood.)

Had I actually understood the full nature of the girls thoughts I may well have worded that entirely differently, as it was, I merely sought to appease her in that moment. I had a rather vast knowledge of the gene pool within Moladion, my belief being that, when the time was right I could at least point her in the right direction. Her agitation, her anger and displeasure were still evident as we sat, my pelt lightly touching against her own as always she had permitted me, once more assuring her that indeed, could such a thing be rectified I would do so, her words causing my head to turn towards her once more as the sun beat dying rays against us, setting us aglow in entirely different ways, the first true touches of the winter chill beginning to trace icy fingers through my pelt. I merely nodded to her words, understanding the truth of them, yes, within the next generation, pups born from her, by a pure sire- well, it would be rectified as she suggested though I still did not follow her thoughts, how could I be expected to, truly?

It is indeed perhaps hard to say what my first mistake in this tirade was, though perhaps the one I will best recall when this is over is that I felt her shift beside me in that moment, her head inkling towards my own, the violet of my gaze turning to meet the copper of her own as I had done for so many years, so many times, unable not to give her the attention she sought, meeting her gaze evenly, levelly, seeing a rarely seen softness within, a fondness in regards to myself that indeed perhaps calmed my own disquiet somewhat in the belief that she is at least accepting of what had been said, that she was ready to move past the matter- how wrong I was. She moved to stand before me, curiosity lingering within my gaze once more as she glided with ethereal ease atop the earth to place herself right before my own gleaming form, meeting my gaze levelly and with a seriousness, a look I have quite seen before that brought a scowl to my features and an unease to my form, a wariness that brought me to my feet with that same, unearthly grace, one as old and pure as time itself- a different kind to Ava’s own and yet it’s partner all the same. She spoke, my ears sliding forward to capture the fine lilt of her voice and yet……I believe I stopped noticing, tone and sound disappearing, the depth of her words, what she was actually saying seeming to strike at some part of myself that render me immobile, jaw opening and closing several times as I merely stared at her in some semblance of shock. My blood?! She wanted my blood?! Surely…..surely she did not suggest what I believed?

“Ava!”

That I even managed that was a miracle in itself, taking a single step back and away from my…my…..my what? What was she? To my eyes, in that moment, she didn’t even appear as the child I had seen born into this world those years ago, as the girl who had played in my shadow and grown at my side. I didn’t see that girl anymore….I saw……a dark wolfess I feel I’ve never met…I saw Jaidah within her in that moment, as for what I felt- honestly I don’t have a word for it.

“Ava, have you taken leave of sense!? My blood? Why not ask this of Azrael or Seraphiel? Why Ava….do you ask it of me? This…this is what you believe will rectify it?”

I would have laughed for the ridiculousness of it and yet…..some part of myself wasn’t laughing, not at all, some part of myself understood, the same part, that once, long ago, gripped her grandmother by the throat and tore it out, that part of myself- understood. Some very dark, very forgotten part saw something within Ava, something I had forgotten existed within myself. The rest was evidently in shock, voice soft, barely a whisper, just for her.

“Are you aware, truly Ava, of what you are asking for?”

If I said no...what would she do? What would she become? But to say yes.....to say yes......


h e y e l
The Original Angel